Prevent the Killing

Speaking at the media briefing with Premier Ebrahim Rasool today, Minister Ramatlakane has condemned and labeled as "madness by a human being" the latest spate of child killings, where in almost all of the incidents a close associate of the family of mother is arrested and or is responsible.

"The killing of children by close family associates is now a new and worrying phenomena."

"Last year my Department drove a campaign distributing a million pamphlets raising awareness on missing children. That campaign was a relative success as it resulted in a rapid decline of such incidents."

"Now we are faced with a new type of phenomena: a child raped and killed by a family member or someone who has a relationship with the child's mother. What compounds this kind of crime for the police is that it is being committed behind closed doors and closed curtains, only for the police to be alerted about it days later."

Minister Ramatlakane has condemned these acts and labeled them as barbaric.

"When a mother strangles her own child to death, such an act must be condemned."
"When the boyfriend rapes and kill the mother's child, this also must be condemned."
"And when a mother leaves her child unattended for 24 hours at the house, only to return a day later to find the child killed, all of these are callous acts that should be condemned."

"Such crime, committed in the house of that family, becomes a challenge to the police because they (police) would react to reports of such a crime and conduct investigations which would then lead to arrests. At times this is not enough."

Minister Ramatlakane called on church and spiritual leaders to play an active role in providing spiritual education to communities in an effort to root out this phenomenon.

"It is clear from the modus operandi that in some families there is deep rooted sickness and a breakdown in the social fabric."

Minister Ramatlakane added that it was of concern that while the neighbourhood is sometimes aware of the brokenness of a particular family, they would choose not to speak out and report this.

"It is our duty as responsible citizens to embrace the value of being communities who uphold the value and norms of being law abiding citizens. This is where we should go back to."

Minister Ramatlakane said Provincial Government's Hands Off Our Children (HOOC) campaign and various other community empowerment programmes aimed at raising awareness on children's safety are to continue.

In the last 3 months, the South African Police Services responded to the following cases where children were killed:

• A 16 year old boy was killed and his body was dumped in a veld / bush in Atlantis. The motive is still not known. One arrest has been made.
• A 2 year old baby 's body was found strangled in Mfuleni allegedly by the mother . The mother was arrested and is still in custody.
• A newborn baby was discovered in Bellville (at the railway station at Cape Peninsula University of Technology). No arrest has been. We are still looking for the mother .
• The body of Ceyline Cowley was found in the backyard of her house in Ravensmead. A 35-year-old man was arrested. He has since pleaded guilty.
• 5-year-old Ayanda Dubuntu of Delft was found murdered outside his house. His mother had left him with other young boys who turned out to be part of the run-away townships gangs. 4 of these boys were arrested and are to be charged with the murder.
• The body of a 5-year-old girl, Aakifa Salie, was found in a house in Observatory. A man has been arrested and has appeared in court.
• 10-year-old Ayanda Dabula was found dead in his mother's house in Philippi East. The boyfriend of the mother has been arrested.

Enquiries:
Makhaya Mani
Spokesman
Media Liaison Officer
Ministry of Community Safety
Western Cape
Tel: 021 483 3873